Graduate Development Programme

The water production and wastewater production teams deliver an excellent service 24 hours per day, 365 days per year to domestic and commercial customers across the north east of England. Water operations are responsible for all aspects of water supply to our customers. This includes: the long term planning to secure water supplies abstraction of water from rivers, reservoirs and underground aquifers treatment through a series of water treatment works, and distribution of treated water through our network to our 4.4 million customers. The Water Production North team aim to exceed customers’ expectations in the quality and quantity of drinking water through the robust operation and management of raw water resources, treatment works and the strategic network.

Key Activities Include:

• Management of raw water assets and resources.

• Optimisation of water treatment works production based on resource availability. Management and operation of Water Treatment Works.

• Operation and real time monitoring of the strategic water distribution network.

• Water network modelling support.

• 24 /7 management of all water and wastewater alarms. – Out of hours support for Customer Contact Centre.
Wastewater Operations are responsible for:

• The operation of sewage treatment works, including septic tanks serving a few domestic properties to large urban works with over a million population equivalents.

• Treating sewage flows to the required quality to meet the needs of the receiving water bodies. Bran Sands Effluent treatment works treating large industrial flows from the industries around Teesside and industrial tanker wastes.

• Large interceptor sewers e.g. Tyneside, Sunderland and Teesside.

• Sludge Management and Treatment Transportation of liquid sludge or sludge cake to central locations for further processing using both our own fleet and contractors. Dewatering of liquid sludge to sludge cake for transportation or feed to sludge processing plants.

• Treating sludge at Bran Sands through Advanced Anaerobic Digestion (AAD) treatment producing a biogas for electrical generation and a safe product to recycle to agriculture, sludge will shortly be treated at Howdon in the same way.

• Management of large recycling contracts through Agrivert and Veolia. We are currently looking at alternative waste stocks to co-digest through AAD.

What will the Graduate Development Programme involve?

The programme will be made up of a number of placements, generally lasting from 3 to 6 months. The first placement will be within the Water or Wastewater teams with your line manager and will allow you to learn the basics, get to know people and the work of the team and to settle into the business. Placements will be agreed as the programme progresses, to make the most of current project opportunities.

You could work with a range of departments within the Water and Wastewater teams, with Procurement, the Distribution team, Investment Delivery supporting capital investment projects and with the Customer Services teams for example to ensure you gain a broad view of the business. You will generally be given specific tasks or projects to do when you are on placements, these will often topic areas that you will know little if anything about but which will allow you to use your skills and network, they are an opportunity to achieve something, learn about the activities of a department and to make a contribution to the company. One placement give you experience of people management, working in a role such as a development team leader.

You will have several people to support you:

• A line manager in either the Water or Wastewater team, who will support you and monitor your progress throughout the programme.

• A placement manager for each placement.

• A mentor, someone relatively senior in the business, not in your reporting line who can help you establish a network and provide guidance and support throughout the programme.

• Typically the graduates build up strong links with each other. As a group you will meet quarterly with the HR & Development manager to share experiences, learn from each other and to resolve any issues.

What will I become?

This will depend upon your particular area of interest and the opportunities that arise as your programme concludes. We are unable to guarantee a specific role and you will be expected to apply for a job alongside other candidates. It is possible you may initially need to work in a location or role that would not be your first choice. Assuming you perform well, the breadth of experience and understanding will however stand you in good stead for future opportunities.

View our 'vacancies' page to apply.

Part of the Commercial Directorate, Northumbrian Water International (NWI) run the subsidiary companies AquaGib, AESOps, AyrES, CELTS, CES, and NWPL, and manage the out of area contracts in Scotland, Ireland and Gibraltar on a commercial basis. In addition the team manage and develop industrial business contracts on Teesside. The Group provides water and waste water management services. We identify and tender for water and wastewater treatment contracts outside of NWL’s operating area, in addition to managing the following subsidiary companies:

Caledonian Environmental Services plc - responsible for the construction and operation of wastewater treatment assets in Levenmouth, Scotland

Ayr Environmental Services Limited - a joint venture for the construction and operation of waste water treatment assets in Ayrshire, Scotland 

Northumbrian Water Projects Limited (NWPL) - responsible for the operation and maintenance of waste water treatment assets in Cork, Ireland 

AquaGib Limited – a joint venture, responsible for the operation and maintenance of Gibraltar's water supply network.

What will the Graduate Development Programme involve?

The programme will be made up of a number of placements, generally lasting from 3 to 6 months. The first placement will be within the NWI team with your line manager and will allow you to learn the basics, get to know people and the work of the team and to settle into the business. Placements will be agreed as the programme progresses, to make the most of current project opportunities. You could work with a range of departments for example the Water and Wastewater teams, Procurement, Investment Delivery supporting capital investment projects and potentially with one of the subsidiary companies in Gibraltar, Ireland or Scotland.

You will generally be given specific tasks or projects to do when you are on placements, these will often be topic areas that you will know little if anything about, but which will allow you to use your skills and network, they are an opportunity to achieve something, learn about the activities of a department and to make a contribution to the company. As part of the programme you will start to work towards Chartered Status – either with the Association of Project Managers, the Chartered Institute of Water and Environmental Management, or another relevant scientific or engineering institution.

You will have several people to support you:

• A line manager in the NWI team, who will support you and monitor your progress throughout the programme.

• A placement manager for each placement.

• A mentor, someone relatively senior in the business, not in your reporting line who can help you establish a network and provide guidance and support throughout the programme.

• Typically the graduates build up strong links with each other. As a group you will meet quarterly with the HR & Development manager to share experiences, learn from each other and to resolve any issues.

What will I become?

This will depend on the opportunities available at the end of your programme, but it is anticipated that you will work towards taking on general management responsibilities, ie a commercial role which will include tendering for new business, ensuring a return on investment and managing existing contracts and relationships. Working in NWI, travel is a significant part of the role and you can expect to travel on average up to 2 days per week, currently to Ireland, Gibraltar and Scotland.

View our 'vacancies' page to apply.

Part of the Technical Directorate, Investment Delivery (ID) plan, monitor and deliver the Capital Investment Programme. In particular we:

• Formulate, gain approval, monitor, report and control the one year and five year capital investment plan.

• Manage the delivery of programmes and projects in the capital investment plan, covering water and wastewater treatment, sewer and major water networks, and corporate systems projects.

• Manage our supply chain for the services required to deliver the capital programme.

• Develop and maintain the company’s engineering standards employed on capital projects

• Ensure that the necessary business and regulatory information associated with capital projects is collected, stored and reported

• Ensure that NWL discharges its legal obligations and duties (typically health, safety and environmental) in the delivery of capital projects

We have teams of project managers, acceptance engineers and support staff based in Durham, Essex and Suffolk.

What will the Graduate Development Programme involve?

The programme will be made up of a number of placements, generally lasting from 3 to 6 months. The first placement will be within the Investment Delivery team with your line manager and will allow you to learn the basics, get to know people and the work of the team and to settle into the business. Placements will be agreed as the programme progresses, to make the most of current project opportunities.

You could work with a range of departments for example the Water and Wastewater teams, Procurement, Distribution and potentially externally with one of our supply chain. You will generally be given specific tasks or projects to do when you are on placements, these will often topic areas that you will know little if anything about but which will allow you to use your skills and network, they are an opportunity to achieve something, learn about the activities of a department and to make a contribution to the company.

You will have several people to support you:

• A line manager in the ID team, who will support you and monitor your progress throughout the programme.

• A placement manager for each placement.

• A mentor, someone relatively senior in the business, not in your reporting line who can help you establish a network and provide guidance and support throughout the programme.

• Typically the graduates build up strong links with each other. As a group you will meet quarterly with the HR & Development manager to share experiences, learn from each other and to resolve any issues.

What will I become?

The location and specific responsibilities will depend on the opportunities available at the end of your programme, but it is anticipated that you will work towards taking on a project manager role. This will involve you taking responsibility for the full project lifecycle of capital investment projects from specification to delivery, including budgetary responsibility and management of suppliers.

View our 'vacancies' page to apply.

Based at Pity Me, the Finance team work closely with the business to ensure that the business is run effectively and efficiently, robust financial processes and controls are maintained, appropriate funding is in place and statutory, regulatory and shareholder reporting requirements are met.

The department is made up of a number of teams involved in a range of activities including management accounting, financial control, supplier payment, insurance and risk management, internal audit, corporate tax, treasury and consolidation and reporting. The team reports to very tight month end deadlines and delivers both statutory and regulatory reporting to different financial year end dates.

The business is diverse and complex, with the added challenge and interest of stringent regulatory requirements for the core business – water and wastewater treatment and supply. As a monopoly, Ofwat compare our performance to other water and water and wastewater companies in the UK and act on behalf of our customers. Every 5 years a business case is submitted to Ofwat to determine the prices we can charge and any efficiency required.

The non regulated elements of the business, also supported by the Finance team, are diverse - from our Leisure Operation at Kielder Water to the provision of pipelaying services on a commercial basis for developers. 

What will the Graduate Development Programme involve?

The programme will be made up of a number of placements, generally lasting from 3 to 6 months. The first placement will allow you to learn the basics of finance eg double entry book keeping, get to know people and the work of the finance team and to settle into the business.

Placements will be agreed as the programme progresses, to make the most of current project opportunities. You could work with departments such as Economic Regulation, Northumbrian Water International, Procurement, Water or Wastewater Operations for example. It may be appropriate to also spend short periods of time with other departments such as our Investment Delivery or Customer Services teams, for example, to ensure you gain a broad view of the business.

You will generally be given specific tasks or projects to do when you are on placements, these will often topic areas that you will know little if anything about but which will allow you to use your skills and network, they are an opportunity to achieve something, learn about the activities of a department and to make a contribution to the company.

In addition to placements you will be required to study for either a CIMA or ACCA qualification and will be given block release to attend revision courses.

You will have several people to support you:
• A line manager in Finance, who will support you and monitor your progress throughout the programme.

• A placement manager for each placement outside of the Finance team.

• A mentor, someone relatively senior in the business, not in your reporting line who can help you establish a network and provide guidance and support throughout the programme.

• Typically the graduates build up strong links with each other. As a group you will meet quarterly with the HR & Development manager to share experiences, learn from each other and to resolve any issues.

What will I become?

This will depend upon your particular area of interest and the opportunities that arise as your programme concludes. We are unable to guarantee a specific role. It is possible you may initially need to work in an area that would not be your first choice, assuming you perform well, the breadth of experience and understanding will however stand you in good stead for future opportunities.

View our 'vacancies' page to apply.